James Franco Backlash

Why We Hate James Franco

According to WWD.com, James Franco is now a fashion photographer. He recently shot a fashion editorial with model Agyness Deyn for the July issue of Elle. The news itself is hardly surprising, but the reaction among our editorial staff was a collective blurgh.

Why the change of heart? Last year, Franco's foray into the arts prompted the sort of following the Jennifer Anistons of the world dream of. In fact, our own staff secretly purchased last year's fall issue of VMAN, where Franco produced a series of photographs, some that featured him manipulating a blowtorch in various poses. At that time we applauded him and bought into his hipster sh*t, but today the photos look like nothing more than your weird friend Bob's Facebook profile pic. What's changed?

Why the backlash?

Well, for starters, there's something arrogant about Franco casually dipping into professions he knows very little about. Photography involves more than pointing and clicking, and while we know Franco is well aware of that, we find it hard to believe that his involvement with Elle was little more than, well, pointing and clicking. Did he set up the lighting? Color correct afterward? Doubtful. At this point, we wouldn't be surprised if Franco decided to perform open-heart surgery next month.

Second, now that our Franco honeymoon phase is over, we find that, outside of acting, his side projects kind of suck. Hosting the Academy Awards? Fail. His story in Esquire? Better suited for a General Hospital script. In fact, if it was a 10th-grade essay, the teacher probably wouldn't praise it. So why are we all in praise of Franco?

The beginning of the end

While we admire the fact that he doesn't put all his eggs into the acting basket and breaks the mold of the one-dimensional actor, we don't respect his superficial attempts at art that never quite live up the excellence of his acting.

These attempts both undermine the expertise required of said professions and also speak volumes about men. In our Leading Man series, James Franco was referenced as a man-child, an adult who exhibits a lack of commitment and who, instead, experiments with his identity. How Erik Erikson of him.

But the truth is, if this was your friend, a buddy who floated from one thing to the next, you'd firmly tell him to get it together. And you know what? We think we've (finally) hit the point with Franco where we're telling him to get it together.

How do you feel about Franco and his many pursuits? Let us know in the comments section.